In Jayne Krentz's The Family Way, the affair between Prudence
Kenyon and Case McCord blazes passionately in the present.
The two discuss little about their pasts and Case, at least,
has no plans for the future. Pru hopes that with time Case
might come to love and marry her. But time runs out when she
discovers she is pregnant. Unwilling to let him learn about
the baby and propose out of a duty, she issues an ultimatum:
marry here or she'll leave. Case lets her go but he is convinced
she will return on his terms. At least he is convinced till
he learns Pru's secret.
The plot of this novel evolves around the couple's subsequent
marriage and their efforts to control the forces from the
past and in the present that threaten their future together.
There is Case's estrangement from his family and their
belief that he has acted infamously, Pru's insecurity over
why Case married her, and the treat of an old friend of the
family.
The book's theme is about what it means to be a family. Pru
must teach Case's sister-in-law and parents about loyalty.
Pru learns to trust Case and Case discovers that it is okay
to give and receive love. The evil in the book results from
those who pervert the idea of family: Case's deceased fiancee
who wanted to marry into the family money and the "friend"
who tries to tear apart the McCord family out of jealousy.
And it is Pru's and Case's extended family that supply the
book's off beat humor. You will enjoy watching J.P. Arlington
serving up jalapeno martinis and hearing Pru's maiden aunt
Wilhemena expound on men.
The Family Way is classic, early Jayne Ann Krentz. The story
moves quickly and you care about the characters. I especially
like the way Case and Pru's working for a foundation to
alleviate world hunger seems so appropriate to the story line.
If you can't find an old copy of the book, try convincing Mira
to reissue it. I would certainly appreciate a less dog-eared
copy.
Just finished rereading this book.
In The Family Way the heroine discovers she is pregnant by our hero and she
tried to get him to propose to her before she told him, because she wanted
him to marry her because he wanted to not because he had too.
I liked Family Way in a lot of ways it reminds me of Ravished. The hero
is condemned by his family for getting another girl pregnant and not doing
the right thing by her even though the hero knows its not his baby and
nobody considers he is innocent of what he is charged with until the
heroine defends his honor.
I usually read on the bus and sometimes have missed the bus when a book
is especially good and this one I nearly missed the bus and I missed my
stop a couple of times. A highly recommendable book.
